Annual Report on Human Rights 2008 - Turkmenistan

There have been some modest improvements in the human rights situation in Turkmenistan, but further action is needed before the country meets internationally accepted standards. The new President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov, inherited a country that had suffered years of regressive policies driven by the authoritarian Saparmyrat Niyazov. Although he pledged loyalty to his predecessor's legacy, President Berdimuhamedov started his term in office by promising to introduce reforms and to reverse some of the actions of the Niyazov era. He has restored pensions and teachers' salaries to their former levels and initiated reforms in health, education, agriculture and internet access. Though the pace of reforms has slowed somewhat, there remains a readiness for dialogue with the international community over Turkmenistan's fulfilment of its human rights obligations.

President Berdimuhamedov has opened up Turkmenistan after many years of isolation, although some barriers remain. A small number of journalists have been allowed into the country and there has been an increase in the number of business visitors. But there is still great suspicion of NGOs, particularly human rights organisations, whose staff usually find it difficult or impossible to obtain visas. Turkmenistan hosted a visit in July by Asma Jahangir, the UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion and Belief. Her report will be issued in March 2009. Turkmenistan has said it is willing in principle for other special rapporteurs to visit but has issued no more invitations so far. President Berdimuhamedov himself has travelled extensively overseas and now allows junior officials to do so too.

We have regular meetings with the Turkmen government and, on occasions, with President Berdimuhamedov, to discuss human rights. Bilaterally, human rights were discussed during the meeting of HRH the Duke of York with the Foreign Minister, Rashid Meredov, in October 2008. Multilaterally, the EU's Special Representative for Central Asia, Pierre Morel, and the other high-ranking representatives of the EU, UNHCR and OSCE, have raised human rights issues regularly. However, Turkmenistan's human rights record continues to delay ratification of the EU-Turkmenistan Interim Trade Agreement and PCA. The EU has reiterated its readiness to support Turkmenistan in its efforts to live up to its international obligations and, as a follow-up to the EU-Turkmenistan ad hoc dialogues on human rights begun in Ashgabat in May 2005, an EU Enhanced Human Rights Dialogue took place in Ashgabat on 24 June 2008. For the first time the Turkmen side accepted a list of individual human rights cases and agreed to respond in writing. Disappointingly, however, the Turkmen government has yet to deliver its response. Turkmen officials continue to engage international organisations on human rights issues. We welcome and encourage this.

The UN Human Rights Council's Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of the human rights record of Turkmenistan took place on 9 December. The Turkmen delegation was headed by Dr Shirin Akhmedova, Director of the Institute of Human Rights and Democracy under the President of Turkmenistan. Dr Akhmedova outlined the "great progress" Turkmenistan had made to meet international human rights standards. She ran through Turkmenistan's legislative framework, which she said offered full human rights protection for the people of Turkmenistan. While noting some progress, the majority of the 35 delegations that took the floor raised concerns about the lack of an independent judiciary, restrictions placed on the media, ill treatment of human rights defenders and the large number of political prisoners. Turkmenistan received 43 combined recommendations in the course of the review. They agreed to accept 19 (including that they should improve respect for freedom of expression and association, outlaw discrimination against women and enhance the ability of NGOs to operate in Turkmenistan). They promised to respond to a further 14 recommendations when the Human Rights Council will discuss the report in March 2009. They rejected 10 recommendations, including our suggestion that they review all possible cases of political detention.

There remains a long way to go to achieve real progress on the ground.

Elections to parliament, which was increased from 65 to 125 members, took place on 14 December. Election teams were sent by the UN and OSCE to support their local offices, which stopped short of being full monitoring missions, and no public statements were made by the teams after the elections. Although the elections may have been a step forward in the establishment of electoral structures, they fall short of anything that could be described as truly pluralistic. The expansion and strengthening of the national parliament, and the adoption of a broadly positive new constitution, are welcome steps. However, the new constitution has not resulted in a more transparent or democratic political process and there has been no move towards any real political pluralism.

After some welcome Presidential pardons of political prisoners announced in two amnesties, there have only been two further releases from detention (the former head of Turkmen National Security Service, Saparmyrat Seyidov, in October, and Valeri Pal, a social activist who was released in December). It is also disappointing that Gulgeldy Annaniyazov, a former political dissident, was imprisoned on his return to Turkmenistan from Norway, where he was given refugee status. His current whereabouts are unknown.

Freedom of movement within Turkmenistan has improved and checkpoints and roadblocks have been removed. It is also easier for Turkmen citizens to travel to border areas. However, an unofficial blacklist still exists, which prevents some people from travelling abroad, although cases of this nature have reduced or are not being reported as often as before. The Turkmen government has encouraged the international community to provide scholarships for young Turkmens to study abroad, but the US Embassy recently voiced its concerns on what it saw as attempts to dissuade students from taking up student exchanges.

NGO registration remains a lengthy and complex process. No new truly independent NGO has successfully registered in the last three years. It is difficult to escape the conclusion that the Turkmen government wishes to constrain the development of NGOs.

Freedom of religion remains a concern and a number of groups remain unregistered. Registered religious groups are able to practise their beliefs discreetly, but there is still a ban on importing religious literature. Some groups have had their requests for registration turned down on many occasions and had their meetings disrupted by the law enforcement agencies. The visit by the Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion and Belief is an encouraging development and we hope that, with her report due in March 2009, progress can be made in this area.

In previous years we have highlighted the misuse of child labour, particularly in the annual cotton harvest. President Berdimuhamedov has reinforced the ban on child labour. As a result we continue to assess that the misuse of child labour has declined although we are aware that it continues in some remote rural areas.

The Institute for Democracy and Human Rights is engaging more with the international community as shown by its serious approach to the UN Universal Periodic Review (UPR) process, which took place in Geneva in December.

Co-operation with the OSCE and the OSCE Centre in Ashgabat continues to improve. The Turkmen authorities are accepting more projects and the OSCE continues to work on the roles of judges and the legal system. We continue to be concerned that members of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) are still unable to start visiting detainees according to the ICRC standard procedures.

There is some discrimination concerning ethnic minorities; this usually takes the form of ethnic Turkmen being the favoured candidates for positions and the minorities being excluded when other decisions are taken. The media remains firmly in state control with no independent newspapers or television and radio stations. It consists mainly of a chronicle of official events with no independent editorial comment. Journalists who co-operate with foreign media like Radio Free Europe have been the subject of harassment and arbitrary detention. However, the Turkmen authorities did allow the OSCE Representative for Media Freedom, Miklos Haraszti, to visit and he was received by the government at a high level.

Our Embassy has arranged a series of visits to the UK by senior officials in areas relevant to human rights. This has included the Head of the Institute of Democracy and Human Rights, with the Deputy Minister for Justice and the Deputy Chairman for Religious Affairs; senior officials from the Justice Ministry and the prosecutor's department to learn about prison management in the UK; a range of senior figures in the educational sector to visit the Institute of Education in London; and the Deputy Head of the Drugs Agency, and Deputy Head of Customs, to look at the UK approach to borders and drugs trafficking.

From these visits came a major project to revise the penal code and reform the criminal justice system with the assistance of the German government, co-operation with the Turkmen authorities on citizen's advice and citizens complaints, including ombudsmen systems, and a project with media training implemented by the BBC and joint funded by OSCE.

The UK will continue to lobby the Turkmen government to address human rights issues and support genuine efforts to do so, both bilaterally and with international partners. We will continue to work through the EU's human rights dialogue and through the EU's Central Asia strategy, which supports good governance, rule of law and human rights. We continue to raise Turkmenistan's record on freedom of religion and hope for improvements in line with the UN Special Rapporteur on Religious Freedom's report.